Despite Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA ) slim majority making the most headlines during his second administration, President Donald Trump‘s Cabinet nominees were removed from the House.
Trump selected three House members for his administration during the preparation of his Cabinet: now-defunct Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz as national security adviser, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY ) as U.N. ambassador.
Waltz and his lieutenant Alex Wong reportedly planned to be kicked out of Trump’s national security staff after Waltz accidentally added a columnist to a conversation-sharing group on the unprotected messaging apps Signal while discussing military operations against the Houthis in Yemen. Trump’s statement on Thursday, however, demonstrated Waltz’s willingness to stay in office.
Trump wrote on social media that his” strong commitment to putting our nation’s interests second” has been demonstrated by his dress on the field, in Congress, and in his capacity as my National Security Advisor. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will continue to lead the State Department in the absence of him while he is serving as National Security Advisor in the time.
Waltz welcomed the reports, at least in the media, on Tuesday, who did not follow Trump to his first 100 days march in Michigan on Tuesday despite traveling to Joint Base Andrews with him on Marine One.
He wrote,” I’m very pleased to continue serving President Trump and our excellent country.”
Although the White House refuted the reports about Waltz on Thursday night, Middle Eastern special envoy Steve Witkoff‘s brand had already been widely circulating as a prospective permanent replacement. Since his inauguration, Witkoff’s plan collection has expanded to include Keith Kellogg, Trump’s first special envoy for the Russia–Ukraine conflict.
According to White House spokesperson Anna Kelly,” President Trump’s Cabinet was confirmed at report velocity because he selected highly-qualified men and women who understood the British people’s authority to make America great again.” All of President Trump’s nominees are quickly carrying out the President’s agenda while providing historic transparency to the press and the public, as demonstrated by this week’s two-hour Cabinet meeting.
Waltz’s decision comes after two other former House members had to withdraw their nominations before their confirmation hearings in the Senate across the Capitol complex.
The first was Gaetz, a second Republican from Florida, who was forced to withdraw from his position as attorney general last November as a result of a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations he paid for sex, including with a 17-year-old, and used drugs as a member. There was not enough evidence to charge him with child sex trafficking and statutory rape, according to a previous Justice Department investigation.
Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing, resigned from the House the day after receiving his nomination. Democrats outperformed their 2024 election results by 17 percentage points, and Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL ) won the race for Escambia County for the first time since 1992, but they lost to Democrat Gay Valimont in their respective special election last month.
Attorney General Pam Bondi was chosen and confirmed to the position in the end.
Gaetz resigned for other reasons months before Stefanik had to do the same for her U.S. ambassador to the U.N. nomination.
Because Johnson needed her support to win the House, Trump withdrew Stefanik’s nomination in March, forcing the Republican majority to veer off as they try to advance Trump’s agenda.
Stefanik is reportedly considering running for governor in 2026 after leaving her House leadership position for the position.
The Waltz and Gaetz examples are instances of Trump not choosing” the best people for his team” and reaping” the consequences of his choices,” according to Darrell West, a senior fellow with the liberal think tank’s governance studies program.
According to West,” some have been inexperienced, while others have committed costly errors that have troubled the president,” according to West. He experienced a lot of staff turnover during his first administration, and now appears to be moving in the same direction. His people have been distracted by significant issues and occasionally forced to hold special elections, which have been costly and time-consuming due to staff misconduct.
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Costas Panagopoulos, a professor of political science at Northeastern University, made a distinction between the “woes” in each of the cases, noting that “it is not unusual for former House members to struggle in senior administration positions.”
Serving in the legislature as a representative of a district is a very different enterprise that calls for different skill sets, according to Panagopoulos, who told the Washington Examiner.” Once again, House members lack the breadth of experience and judgment to excel in these positions. When House members are extricated from Congress primarily for political gain, they occasionally stumble and fall short. The challenges of senior-level posts can be challenging even for experienced politicians or those with specialist expertise.
